What does your travel policy cover?

One risk which not all travel policies cover is terrorism. Defaqto has analysed the annual and single travel insurance market and discovered that while most providers would probably pay medical claims resulting from terrorism, travellers could lose out in the case of baggage and personal accident claims.

Mike Powell, of Defaqto, says: “Of the 976 annual and single trips analysed, only 63 % of policies available offer some form of protection following a terrorist incident, which leaves a significant proportion of people at risk of purchasing inadequate cover. Terrorism is not always a consideration that you would even think about when purchasing your travel insurance cover, but you should check with your insurer to confirm the cover, particularly if you are travelling to countries at risk of terrorism.”

Some of the companies that include this protection are British Airways, American Express, Cosmos, Easyjet and Endsleigh.

In the wake of the XL airline debacle last week, Post Office Travel Services is one of the few travel insurance providers to include Scheduled Airline Failure (SAF) as a standard feature.

The Post Office policy carries SAF cover as a standard feature, providing up to £1,500 in total for each insured person named on the policy and airline ticket. Swiftcover also offers this feature as an optional extra.

But if you paid for airlines tickets or a holiday accommodation with a credit card or a Visa debit card, the card issuer should refund your losses anyway.

It is only if you paid for your airline tickets or a package holiday via a non Visa debit card that you will be left high and dry.